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LEPIDOPTERA

Muschcimpia tessellum (Hubner, [1803])
Muschcimpia tessellum (Hubner, [1803])

• TYPE LOCALITY. "Russland" [S. Russia].

• SYNONYMS: hibisci Boeber, 1812; mazzola Ochsenheimer, 1816.

• RANGE. From SE. Europe (the Balkans) across Asia Minor to Iran and Palestine, and across S. Russia and Kazakhstan to Mongolia and Yakutia.

• DISTRIBUTION AND VARIATION. The S. European part, the Caucasus Major and Minor, the Armenian Highland, the Kopet-Dagh, Tian-Shan, the Altai, Sayan, W. and S. Siberia, W. and N. Transbaikalia, East Siberia to Yakutsk. Highly variable, especially with respect to the development of a UPS white pattern;UNH ground colour varies from yellow-green to almost black. This variation seems to be caused by ecological rather than purely geographical factors. Apart from the nominate form, two other subspecies are usually listed for the territories in question, viz. the ssp. cribrelloides Warren, 1926 (the SE. European part) and nigricans Mabille, 1909 (Tian-Shan, the Altai and Siberia).

• TAXONOMIC NOTES. The above subspecies may appear to reflect no real geographical variation of this species. The ssp. cribrelloides is most probably an extreme in the variation of the nominate subspecies. In the regions of Turkey adjacent to Transcaucasia, specimens occur transitional to the ssp. nomas. The general subspecific composition of M. tessellum is now being revised in view of a modern reassessment of the entire tessellum-group.

• HABITATS AND BIOLOGY. Steppe landscapes, dry grasslands, valleys, sunny slopes; mountains up to 3,000 m a.s.l. Flight period: June-July (in the European part and in the mountains), in the south the butterflies can fly much earlier, beginning from April. Host plants: Phlomis (Lamiaceae), Phlomoides tuberosa in the European part (Bartel, 1914). Small larval instars live under silk shelters on the underside of leaves.

• SIMILAR SPECIES. M. cribrellum: smaller and darker, UPS white spots bright, UNH spots rounded. M. tersa: UNH ground colour whitish with spots faint. M. kuenlunus: UPS white spots smaller, UNS greyish. M. gigas: larger and darker, white spots on both sides reduced. M. protheon: UNH submarginal spots diffuse.

Photo and text: Guide to the BUTTERFLIES OF RUSSIA and adjacent territories Volume 1. PENSOFT, Sofia - Moscow. 1997